A few evenings ago I happened to catch the CTV coverage of the Conrad Black trial jury selection. Lisa LaFlamme pondered out loud whether a jury of common Chicago folk was equipped to understand the legal and financial complexities that underpin the case.
I looked back at the screen.
“As if you do.”
Typical liberal arrogance. Why am I not surprised?
Every ad for a newscast can be boiled down to “we’re smarter than you.” Gotta love ’em.
Actually, I think it more accurate to say every ad for a newscast can be boiled down “we force complex issues through the politicized filters of the unqualified and the ignorant to better pretend we know what we’re talking about.”
Yeah, what Kate said.
what the MSM still has not comprehended is that for every “ottawa bureau chief”, “market expert”, “climate change expert specialist ” reporter there is as least a couple out on the blogs that actually know something and can pull down the facts faster than Belinders Stonachs pants around an honourable member.
The Media is at the root of a lot of our troubles today.
Ask those who have read Pravda in the past.
I occasionally go to the Pravda English website.
Today’s headline;
“..Honeybees mysteriously disappear across USA causing national tragedy”, Pravda.
Coming to a scary media outlet in Canada soon.
Question is whose talking points was she representing….it could have been Black’s.
Ususually you get a choice of judge or jury….I would be very surprised if Lord Black chose “a jury of his peers” givent that his arguments are alleged to be legal and technical in nature.
With a good lawyer I am sure the jury can understand his argument. It all depends on what the prosecution is targetting him with…if it is technical argumaents as well then it is a saw off…and it comes down to who got hurt, if anyone.
Like you Kate I am agnostic on this and on Lord Black, I have no idea one way or another if he did anything illegal or immoral….we shall see.
However, the fact that he ticked off Chretien so much makes me somewhat sympathetic to him.
Well we can surely count on Mark for the truth in this massive smear campaign wrought by an over zealous Lynch Mob under the umbrella of American
Justice.
Lisa LaFlamme, like a few more from her cabal of wandering ‘Journalists’, really do show a bit too
much of their superior, condescending attitudes.
Many of us ordinary peons, like the jury chosen for the Black trial, have thought processes beyond turnips and can judge crap when we see/hear it.
Ah CTV. In its desperation to display a unified liberal voice they hire airheads and systematically programmed bleeding hearts.
You’d think that there was no such beast as a “financial reporter”. It’s more important to put the familiar face of an uniformed talking head on TV, than it is a reporter with the expertise required to recognize what evidence is relevant and which isn’t.
As a result the chances that the CTV news consumer will be even reasonably informed about the case is about nil.
There is an up side to the Black case. Its knocked Robert Willy Picton off the air. Other than that who cares.
*
it’s important to remember that the prime qualifications
for lisa flamer’s job, are the ability to read english and
to understand hand signals from the floor.
that qualifies you to participate in the grade 2
christmas pageant in this neck of the woods.
*
If any of you are interested, BNN is covering the case too, and the reporters there are expected to have some background in finance. The coverage so far has been updated at about 8:15 AM, right after 12 PM, and at about 2:15 PM. The broadcast is cut up into broadband snippets, posted, and linked to in the lower half of the home page. Anyone who doesn’t like CTV’s coverage might like BNN’s.
The media groupthink entirely bought into the trope that a Chicago jury could only comprise a bunch of lowbrow blue-collar types, ignoring that Chicago is also a financial and business centre, very affluent, and that the jury pool might possibly, if not actually include a few educated, intelligent professionals.
I saw that segment by Lisa LaPhlegm. She wore a nice trenchcoat and her hair never moved. What more could you want?
I’m with the agnostics on the outcome of this one. All I really know is that Conrad Black is rich which isn’t and shouldn’t be a crime and just as importantly shouldn’t be perceived to be a crime. But I really have no idea if he broke any laws in obtaining those riches. If he didn’t — more power to him; if he did, he deserves to be punished. My irritation comes from the fact that CTV, in an attempt to imitate those awful, vulgar, ignorant Americans to whom CTV loves to condescend, is attempting to put on a “Trial of the Century (pick your sequel number)” imitation of the OJ Simpson trial but without the clear cut issue of “did accused murder victim?” rather the far more arcane, technical, and ultimately dry issue of “Did Conrad violate security regulation 2. iii subsection b?” Assessing innocence or guilt requires far more technical expertise than CTV is able or willing to muster, so we’ll be exposed to a dirge of endless drivel about hairstyles, postures, vacuous opinions etc. should we be so masochistic as to watch this nonsense rather than using the time more productively as I did last night, in taking the dog out for his evening constitutional.
Kate seems to spend a lot of time talking back to her television set.
Just sayin’, is all.
It is the pervasive arrogance of the modern media. They seem to think that because what they do is write (or stand in front of a camera and talk) that it is the writing (or standing/talking) that is the hard part.
It’s the understanding that is the hard part. It would be best to take experts in finance, law or science etc, and teach them (or edit them) to write a coherent sentence understandable by a non-stupid lay reader; but what we get instead are airheads (m/f) who have been briefed by someone (often someone with a bias) who manage to garble even the simplest and most straightforward of facts, lose the meaning, and advance an agenda simultaneously.
At least LaFlamme is trying. Kate, on the other hand, has nothing on the budget… non-comprende blogging?
I went to university with some folks who became “journalists”. Funny thing it was always the history/english degree types that did so, and they mainly took those degrees because, well, um, er, math and science is you know, like hard. I would take a crack at her, though.
It brings to mind a quote from the late great Frank Zappa.
“Definition of rock journalism: People who can’t write, doing interviews with people who can’t think, in order to prepare articles for people who can’t read.”
Thirty years later, it applies to most TV news.
“””””Like you Kate I am agnostic on this and on Lord Black, I have no idea one way or another if he did anything illegal or immoral….we shall see.””””””
if’n his pockets are full of money, he stole it, less of coarse some fell into my pockets, then he’s innocent
“At least LaFlamme is trying. Kate, on the other hand, has nothing on the budget… non-comprende blogging?”
do you accept “trying” from other professionals in your life? LaFlamme shoud be doing more than that. As for the budget: the numbers are widely available, i think a blog is a good place for opinions, and there was a thread for that.
“At least LaFlamme is trying. Kate, on the other hand, has nothing on the budget…”
You’re in the wrong place, Moe.
I’m not a journalist. This isn’t the news media.
But hey – provide the budget and I’ll see what I can do for you. There’s a paypal button over on the left side of the main page.
Knock yourself out.
Vermin? I always use carrion-eaters, myself…
“..Honeybees mysteriously disappear across USA causing national tragedy”, Pravda
Surprisingly, this is true, the honeybee is becoming extinct. I have a friend at Cornell who studies bees. Seems the crossbred bees have almost wiped out the honeybee. It’s been documented for years now.
Truly! The hairspray helmet herself pondering the intelligence of anyone.
That’s deeply ironic……
When I heard that Ms.Black had called one reporter a slut and the others vermin, I thought, “Okay, she nailed it!” I am rather surprised at the media attention her comments have received. This is news, but only to the sluts and vermin!
“I make my living off the evening news
Just give me something-something I can use
People love it when you lose,
They love dirty laundry
Well, I coulda been an actor, but I wound up here
I just have to look good, I dont have to be clear
Come and whisper in my ear
Give us dirty laundry
Kick em when theyre up
Kick em when theyre down
Kick em when theyre up
Kick em when theyre down
Kick em when theyre up
Kick em when theyre down
Kick em when theyre up
Kick em all around
We got the bubble-headed-bleach-blonde who
Comes on at five
She can tell you bout the plane crash with a gleam
In her eye
Its interesting when people die-
Give us dirty laundry
Can we film the operation?
Is the head dead yet?
You know, the boys in the newsroom got a
Running bet
Get the widow on the set!
We need dirty laundry
You dont really need to find out whats going on
You dont really want to know just how far its gone
Just leave well enough alone
Eat your dirty laundry
Kick em when theyre up
Kick em when theyre down
Kick em when theyre up
Kick em when theyre down
Kick em when theyre up
Kick em when theyre down
Kick em when theyre stiff
Kick em all around
Dirty little secrets
Dirty little lies
We got our dirty little fingers in everybodys pie
We love to cut you down to size
We love dirty laundry
We can do the innuendo
We can dance and sing
When its said and done we havent told you a thing
We all know that crap is king
Give us dirty laundry”
“..Honeybees mysteriously disappear across USA causing national tragedy”, Pravda
now there is something Dr. Bono Suzuki could legitamately comment on.
Great shot, Kate: game, set, and match, as a matter of fact. That case is closed, anyway (badly mixed metaphor, sorry).
Well golly, I’m glad shes so very concerned about us Chicago people’s ability to follow such a complexified case. It’s good we have Canadians to come tell us how dumb we all are here in Chicago. /snark
One would imagine that someone like myself with an MBA from one of the nationally ranked universities here in Chicago (Northwester, UofC, Loyola, Depaul) might make it on the jury and be able to understand the complex underpinnings of the case. Just like we understand the complex underpinnings of the futures markets at the Board of Trade, or the complexities of running some of the major global corporations based here (McDonalds, Boeing).
What you have to remember is that Petey and the rest of the Presstitutes are smarter and better than you all. They’re all puling over Bab’s remarks about reporters yesterday. Give us afreakin’ break. I could think of much worse things to say but I won’t. Presstitutes never do.
Anyone who has had experience with Lisa (“Gotcha”)LaFlamme knows she has as much smarts as a sack full of hammers. One thing does know (and does it exceeding well)is how to set up an interview with unsuspecting people and garner the 10 second soundbites to obtain the perspective “she” wants for her telecast.
I know because I have seen her do it.
greg grandy: That’s their song to a tee!
Your right, Babs nailed them. If they had a brain among them they’d shut up pronto!
Here’s a what if sort of wishful thinking idea….
Conrad gets off and counter sues for malicious prosecution…then comes back with a vengance and buys Bell Globe Media including CTV…..fires the whole stinking bunch and turns the operation into FOX North!
Liz J – “their song” is actually one Don Henley wrote in the mid 80’s – true then true now. Springsteen wrote “57 Channels ” and nothing on – around the same time. The more things change the more they stay the same
If y’all are interested, Lisa LaFlamme said that the technical details of the case were over her head, a few minutes ago, on The Verdict.
Um… CTV and BNN are owned by the same company. It was Report on Business TV not too long ago.
That said, any network who can employ someone as one of their stars who says “the letters NDP strike the fear of God in the hearts of investors” I like.
(Kevin O’Leary during the Liberal leadership race, in regards to Mr. Rae)
kevink; and let’s not forget from pink floyd’s little black book with my poems in it,
“I got 13 channels of sh!t on the tv to choose from!”
No more for me. I cancelled my satellite a month ago and miss it not a bit. The constant lying, the bending of the truth and disinformation spread by the likes of cbc, ctv and global networks made watching the news a yelling match between myself and the television. I may have to pay for the crappy broadcasting company through my taxes but I don’t have to pay twice!
As a journalist, I was outraged when I heard Barbara Amiel had called us “sluts” and “vermin.” Hate crime! Alert the lawyers!
But then I heard she was just talking about CBC people. Whew. Well, we all knew that, nobody better than Babs. As you were, everybody.
Sol, how about those Maple Leafs?
I think that Lisa is asking a very pertinent question. If it comes down to fine points of securities regulations that the jury, collectively, has a problem grasping and are swayed by the prosecution’s cries of greed and cheating, Conrad could be in serious trouble.
I don’t know if you can elect to be tried by a judge alone in the U.S. but suspect not. If this was tried in Canada and I was Conrad, I would opt for trial before judge alone. If you agree with the concept of “innocent until proven guilty”, when the issues are technical and complex AND I was convinced that I had followed all the rules, (not saying that Conrad did but refer to above concept) I would put my fate with a judge rather than a jury.
An ambitious prosecutor would love nothing better than to have another “notch” on the stock of his gun.
A jury of his peers? That would mean finding some corrupt plutocrats. I wonder if Ken Lay and Jeffery Skilling are busy?
@Trev: True enough, but the National Post, as well as the folded-in-to-the-former Financial Post, and Global TV are owned by the same company, aren’t they?
If one is too stupid to get out of Jury duty how are they possibly going to understand complicated financial transactions.Think back to the morons on the O.J. jury who couldn’t understand DNA evidence.